Monday, February 8, 2016

London could soon have more cyclists than motoristen on its streets

Londoners are aking to bicycles in record numbers. The number of commuters taking to bicycle in the city have tripled since 2000, while commuting by car has been cut in half. Since the turn of the century, London has seen the number of commuters traveling by bike triple from 12,000 daily commuters to 36,000. Jason Sayer of The Architect’s Newspaper reports that despite the growth, London still lags behind other European cities, including Madrid and Oslo, which have moved to limit automobile access to their city centers. However, as ridership grows better infrastructure is being built to meet demands for safety and access. Britain now boasts over two million weekly cyclists—an all-time high, according to British Cycling, a governing body in the UK. Sales of U.K. manufactured bikes subsequently grew 69 percent in 2014 and the effect of this is most evidently seen in the capital. “You can probably trace it back to the bombing attacks in London in 2005,” points out Simon Mottram, founder of cycling clothing firm Rapha, in a BBC report. “Not to forget the government’s Cycle To Work scheme [introduced back in 1999 and which allows people to buy a bike tax-free].Read more here.